I have been on the quest to find a decent body scrub for ages, my skin is quite fickle and loves a good scrub but will often come out red and blotchy if its too much.
During my quest I came across Australian Native Botanicals from Marks & Spencers. This is a relatively new range in the beauty department at M&S and has a variety of products available from shampoos to lotions. I often find that M&S are a reliable company for any clothing purchases, as I know it'll have been well made, however I don't know a vast amount about their beauty items, so I was extremely eager to find out what this new range would be like.
Austrailian Native Botanicals Mountain Pepper Exfoliating Scrub - £7.50
The first item from this collection that I tested was the Mountain Pepper Exfoliating Scrub; made with crushed walnut shell, aloe vera, jojoba, sesame oil, cocoa seed oil, shea butter, avocado oil and blended with elemi, lemon, ylang ylang, cinnamon and lemon verbena pure essential oils. After reading the ingredients I was intrigued to see how such a wonderful combination or smells and sensations went down with my sensitive skin.The look To be honest I never even clicked this was from Marks & Spencers, because the packaging doesn't give anything away. Each type of product from the range comes in a different color - so I guess if you are in a rush and you know your color...It might make life easier?! Well personally I really quite like the vibrant yet simple packaging as it links well with the fact the products are 100% vegan and gluten free, pushing the hippy and pure road the product is aiming for. Yet with such a variety of beautiful smells and items packed into the bottle, I feel it has every right to be an exciting shade to emphasis how wonderful it is.
The smell & texture
I do struggle with products that are too intense with smells, if I get items that are of certain aromas I can instantly get a migraine - lucky there wasn't much of an intense smell at all to this, infact its just a very clean yet zesty fragrance. Next was the texture, this was ideal for someone like me who gets very irritated skin easily as the gel consistancy that comes out the bottle, doesn't have too many scrub particles in it the ones it does have, you certainly feel on your skin but they aren't as intense or hard as some scrubs.
The effects
Firstly the bottle seems to be lasting quite a while, which is always a bonus especially as it is quite pricey... I found that you only need to use a little in order for it to do its job. I got a lovely scrubbed feeling after each wash and my skin didn't blotch or feel irritated at all, I believe this could all be down to the fact there are no synthetic fragrances or synthetic colours, made with 96.1% of natural origin ingredients, no parabanes, no PEGs and no phthalates.... basically it is quite a saintly product!
The verdict
If like me you have easily irritated or sensitive skin, this could very well be a happy balance for using in the shower. If however you are after a more intense scrub - then this may not be the exfoliating scrub for you, the lack of scrubbing particles won't make the experience as intense on your skin. Overall though I'd certainly say for a product that isn't tested on animals, that smells nice and cleans well, its fantastic... especially as it lasts ages!
xoxo """"
